WAG Average Progression

[Iwannabemargo]

A tough question I know but comming from a different country I would like to put the US (JO) programme into perspective.

I understand that competitive gymnastics starts at level 3(4), but what age are your average level 3, 4, 5 etc gymnasts and how many levels do they generally move per year. Also what age do your small people tend to start gym.

I know over here many dont start til 7/8.

Thanks

'Margo

PS I have adopted the "new" levels for clarity

 

[htimcj]

This is DD gym only and there seems to be a huge variance between gyms. DD gym typically starts pre-team around 5 or 6 then competes L3 at 6 or 7, L4 is usually around 7-9 L5 8-13 L6 9-15 L7 10+ L8 11+ L9 and L10 the girls are usually 11+. We almost always do every level. We don't have any mandatory repeat levels and usually every one does one year at each level but will hold back girls if the skills aren't there. There seems to be more repeating in the optional levels then the compulsory levels.

 

[Committed]

At our current gym, the youngest pre-team age is 5.5yo. Once a kid gets all of the required skills, she can move up to team. There are very few 5yo team members. The average is 6-7 year olds for the (new) levels 3 & 4. I think our gym has one mandatory repeat year, but after that is usually 1 level per year.

 

[ejgymmom]

I think our gym has one mandatory repeat year, but after that is usually 1 level per year.

Is it really mandatory? What if you have a child who scores high and is clearly ready to move to the next level? Do they hold her back just because they have this rule? Or does it just seem that it's mandatory just because *most* kids need to repeat a level at some point?


In our gym the youngest (new) level 3's are 6. They won't move them up if they aren't old enough to compete even if they're ready I think. I think the average age in level 3 is probably 8-9, level 4 is probably 9-11 and I'm not sure about higher levels. My daughter will be turning 8 in the fall and will be doing (new) level 3. We'll have girls from 6-13 in level 3. We have 3 different levels of pre-team groups that range in age from 4-12 I believe.

 

[Committed]

Is it really mandatory? What if you have a child who scores high and is clearly ready to move to the next level? Do they hold her back just because they have this rule? Or does it just seem that it's mandatory just because *most* kids need to repeat a level at some point?

I don't know if it is really mandatory. I heard it through the grape-vine, and you know how that goes

 

[MaryA]

Definitely differs from gym to gym. My DD was the oldest level 7 at her gym last year (11-12 years old) but at meets she is usually right in the middle, age-wise. I can't honestly say I know how old the girls are at the lower levels. They all look little to me, though I think I did hear that we have a 10-year-old moving up from pre-team, so our gym isn't one that will say "you're too old for level x" or whatever, though the later starters do seem to gravitate to excel.

Our HC says the "standard" progression is 1 year per level up through level 7, and then 2 years for each level 8 and 9, but of course we end up with kids who "skip" levels and others who repeat lower levels.

If you were to just go based on what you see in YouTube, you would think that there aren't any level 7's older than 9 years old, but that's just not the case. At the meet we hosted last year, there was even an age category for "13-and-up" in the level 3 group. I heard one mom kind of sneer at that, but I say good for them! They clearly love gymnastics a lot to be willing to go out there and compete, even though they're much older than the average kid just starting out. And hey, they're still doing stuff that I never could do!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Thanks for the replies. I do think you tube skews things somewhat ! As someone who only knows what I read on here its interesting to here what the norm is !

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I don't know if there even is a "norm." Generally, a college-bound gymnast should aim to hit level 10 by her sophomore or junior year at the latest, butt he pace to get there varies wildly depending on the kid and depending on the program. I've seen kids skip levels, I've seen kids move at a constant pace, and I've seen kids spend three or more years at one level and then later skyrocket through several levels in a single season.

I'd say you can generally expect a kid to repeat at least once during puberty, since progress generally slows down significantly during that phase. But beyond that, I don't think there is any sort of norm that is consistent across the board.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I don't know if there even is a "norm." Generally, a college-bound gymnast should aim to hit level 10 by her sophomore or junior year at the latest, butt he pace to get there varies wildly depending on the kid and depending on the program. I've seen kids skip levels, I've seen kids move at a constant pace, and I've seen kids spend three or more years at one level and then later skyrocket through several levels in a single season.

I'd say you can generally expect a kid to repeat at least once during puberty, since progress generally slows down significantly during that phase. But beyond that, I don't think there is any sort of norm that is consistent across the board.

Yes but now you need to explain how old a "sophamore " and "Junior" are ! lol

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Haha, you'll have to forgive my American tendency to forget that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily do things the same way we do.

Sophomore/junior year means about 15-16 years old.

 

[momofthreegirls]

At our gym we start competing at the old L4, and the kids range from 6-11 years old, most being 7 or 8 years old. The kids try to move one level per year, but it's pretty common for kids to repeat the old L4 because they lack a kip. Many repeated the old L5 as well, as our gym usually did two years of L5 and then just did one score-out meet for L6, then on to optionals. Our optional team is all 11+, and the ages in the compulsories vary from 6-13.

We tend to have a young team because the owner prefers a young preteam (ages 5-6 being the optimal age).

 

[fuzi]

At the gym I am coaching at right now, we have a Level 1 (pre team) group where the youngest is just short of 5 and the oldest is 7. Our level 2 group will do a few meets this year and they are 6-10 (some of the older girls just started gymnastics a year or two ago but we still want to give them a chance). Our level 3 group is where most people start competing and they are 6-10. Most of our gymnasts will do two years at this level, not necessarily because of skills, but because most of them don't really understand how to compete. I am predicting that as we start competing some at level 2, fewer girls will need to compete level 3. Our level four group is 8-11 and our level five group is 10-12. Our youngest optional gymnasts are 11 (in 6th grade). Most of our girls seem to spend three years total in level seven and eight (either two years of 7 and a year of 8 or two years of 8 and a year of 7). Everyone seems to spend two years at level 9.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

This is very interesting.

Do you think that the sheer number of competitions that you enter per year slows down progress ?

Is the compulsory kip an issue for some girls ?- I know my daughter has just got hers this year but over here its not so much of a big deal and you can compete with a circle up and take the deduction.

 

[krstew29]

At our gym they do pre team for ages 4-7 and then last year they competed either old L2 or old L3. Usually they progress one level per year except old L5 which was typically repeated though not mandatory. DD didn't really do preteam (she is 7yo), they put her right in old L2 this past year and they are trying to have her and some of her teammates skip new L2 to new L3 for the upcoming year. I think there is an old L3 they are going to try to skip into new L4 and there is at least 1 and maybe 2 old L4's who might repeat because they don't have their kip and some other skills, but one of them couldn't reliably make practice the 3 days a week so that is why she is behind the others. It really depends on the girls I guess.

 

[MaryA]

Do you think that the sheer number of competitions that you enter per year slows down progress ?

I don't know. I think our HC feels like part of doing well at meets is just learning how to compete, so the more meets you do, the better a competitor you will be.

 

[Bajanswife]

We are not in the U.S. but we compete USAG JO because we are closer geographically to the U.S. than we are to Canada or the UK so it makes sense to follow their system so we can go to occasional meets there. We are too small to have our own system. Because we are so small, we have fewer kids to choose from when forming a team. We might be less picky about age and talent at try-outs than some gyms would be. We encourage any age to start team, and as a result are all over the place as far as age groups go. We also start competing from level 1 now because that's what our neighbours in Trinidad do, even though our coach really preferred to start at level 3 (old). We found that when we started having our own invitational meet, the regional clubs wanted to send large level 1 and 2 teams, so that led our gym to start competing our pre-teamers as well. Now that level 1 is more like level 2 was, it doesn't feel quite as silly to compete it. You also have to consider, most of our team drops out at (old) level 4 or 5 because they can't get the tumbling and bars. If they can compete from level 1 that gives them a longer time to represent their country in the sport. Yes, for us once you are competing you are representing your country, because our gym's team is also the National team. That's huge for a kid, and we want as many kids as possible to have that experience.

We don't have any kids under 6 on team - team kids usually come from rec, and rec doesn't start until 6. Before age 6 there's kinder gym. Our coaches wouldn't want a kinder kid on team or pre-team, no matter how good she may seem, because they just prefer the kids to be older and more able to follow instructions and wait their turn. I guess that's personal preference.

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

When we were planning our move to a USAG gym from a non-USAG gym, I tried to determine how far "behind" dd might be in USAG competitions in our state. This is not scientifically accurate.... but it will give you an idea. I looked a the State Compulsory Meet info for 2013(www.mymeetscores.com). The median age for level 4 was 9 years old... median age for level 5 was 10 years old, median age for Excel was 11 years old (most gyms competed Excel instead of L6). The youngest age group in Level 7 was 7-10, and there were only a handful. After that, it was harder to tell the "median" age because more age group divisions were multi-age.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

So in Ontario, girls cannot compete beyond invitational meets until they are 9 years old. Provincial (our version of States) competitions start at level 5, go to nine, then National Open (similar to JO Level 10). So, you might say the average child is geared towards competing at level 5 by the age of 9. That is the case if they are in the pre-competitive program - but certainly we have another large group of girls who compete solely invitationally at lower levels (2-4) up to age 15/16. BUT, there are kids who start in later years, young kids to hit age 9 at much higher levels, some move a level a year, some compete at the same level for multiple years due to skills, fears, increased demands outside of the gym, you name it. There really isn't a PLAN that works for everyone.

 

[gymlover]

I would say it would be good if by 9 they were in level 7-8. Then when they were 10 they were level 9. They would be HP novice by the time they are 11. They could up there DV during the next few years until they are the age allowable for international meets. That is probably how many of the elites here in Canada started off. Just my guess!